Passengers fewer at 2 state airports
The state’s largest airport is on track for its smallest passenger volume in four years.
Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field saw 892,098 passengers through the first 11 months of the year, a nearly 54% fall from the same period in 2019. Last month’s performance was slightly worse with the airport’s passenger levels dropping 56.6% to 84,961.
A spike in covid-19 infections has coincided with another downturn in passenger traffic this month, according to Bryan Malinowski, Clinton National’s executive director.
If the trend holds, the airport likely will have fewer than 2 million passengers for the year. The last time that happened was 2016 when 1,991,504 passengers went through the airport.
Passengers at Northwest Arkansas National Airport at Highfill also continue to be slow to return.
A total of 59,569 passengers went through Northwest in November, a 62.4% decline from the same month last year. Through the first 11 months of this year, passenger traffic was 672,219, a 60.5% drop from the same period in 2019.
— Noel Oman
Canada’s tree farms rake in U.S. dollars
Americans are buying more Christmas trees this year, and the farms that produce them are struggling to keep up.
The demand has been a boon for Plantations Real Beloin, a Christmas tree farm in East Hereford, Quebec.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” said Thierry Beloin, vice president of the farm. The 530-acre farm sold out of trees in August and loaded up its last shipment to the United States on Dec. 3.
It is one of roughly 1,500 Christmas tree farms in Canada, a $108 million industry. About half of Canadian tree sales go to the United States.
During the harvest season, the farm cuts down roughly 4,000 Christmas trees a day.
The farm distributes trees to seven U.S. states and three Canadian provinces, along with more far-flung locales like Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and South America. The uptick in demand this year allowed the farm to increase its prices by 10%.
“This is the best year I’ve ever seen as a Christmas tree grower,” Beloin said.
— The New York Times
Arkansas Index falls 3.37 to 480.15
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, closed Wednesday at 480.15, down 3.37.
“Stocks rose in afternoon trading led by the consumer discretionary sector following a statement by the Federal Reserve committing to continue asset purchases in order to ‘help foster smooth market functioning and accommodative financial conditions,’” said Leon Lants, managing director at Stephens Inc.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.